"Morning Routine 2" by Eva Dominelli
Two poems by Emily Alexander
Instead of Sleeping
I watched Grey’s and let the stars
go on thumbtacking the night
up everyone driving
outside shadowed headlights
into the room turned and
turned my clutter into a mobile I watched
spin around me Meredith
too moved through the hospital
pushing gurneys reaching
towards McDreamy reaching towards
her the hallways so well-lit we were
sort of the same right yeah
right curled around my
knees my eyelashes blinked
into the pillowcase the snowplows
only spread gravel over each new
layer of ice once in the car with everyone
I couldn’t stop crying so far
from the ground so many miles
over the speed limit the snow
so obnoxiously glowed through
shyless if I were Meredith
I would have leaned into the shoulder
giving off heat right there
next to mine but I was
tired I wanted to be home
then when I was home I wanted to be
in a car full of people hurtling
along the highway all the time
I wanted to be in surgery wanted
to be elbow-deep in some torn
organ stitched back
together with my thinly steady fingers
go on thumbtacking the night
up everyone driving
outside shadowed headlights
into the room turned and
turned my clutter into a mobile I watched
spin around me Meredith
too moved through the hospital
pushing gurneys reaching
towards McDreamy reaching towards
her the hallways so well-lit we were
sort of the same right yeah
right curled around my
knees my eyelashes blinked
into the pillowcase the snowplows
only spread gravel over each new
layer of ice once in the car with everyone
I couldn’t stop crying so far
from the ground so many miles
over the speed limit the snow
so obnoxiously glowed through
shyless if I were Meredith
I would have leaned into the shoulder
giving off heat right there
next to mine but I was
tired I wanted to be home
then when I was home I wanted to be
in a car full of people hurtling
along the highway all the time
I wanted to be in surgery wanted
to be elbow-deep in some torn
organ stitched back
together with my thinly steady fingers
How to Make the Perfect Grilled Cheese
I could be painting my bathroom blue
I could be driving a van across the country collecting
coffee mugs in each state
I could be throwing water balloons
at Paul Ryan from behind a freshly pruned shrub in his lawn
I could be kinder
the neighborhood kids shout dizzy
I could be there too grass-staining my knees as the evening
golds we dice scallions shallots leeks we argue over McDreamy
if he’ll meet Meredith at the bar or stay
with his wife my knife slips a little you say
careful and pause just to watch
the curve of my fingertips it’s not like I’d wring my hands
in an OR and bumble through all
the dumb ways I love you it’s just
the soft skin of your open elbow crease lately
I forget to keep track of myself you found
a recipe for the perfect grilled cheese let’s make this
you said so I said okay let’s after work
we met at the store to buy
ingredients I can’t stop
saying oh man this is going to taste so good you
can’t stop sweetly holding the light
against your neck earlier I stepped out
of the shower drew a line in the mirror for my cheekbone
earlobe to swim in the clearest
river there when you opened the curtain
and reached for a towel I turned your body moved
through the steamed room and I love
your body moving through any room or buttoning your shirt
wrong or leaning toward the stove to be sure
the butter isn’t burning it’s melting
just right oh dear greasy mouth oh my happiest
sidelong glance I’m more
ridiculous than I’ve ever been eating
until my stomach hurts
reddening a patch of skin on your calf with my
knee’s heat I could be biking
past the first split
pea sprouts of summer I could be stitching
the tear in my favorite pair of jeans I was right
about how good this would taste of course
you were right about Derek and his wife
I’ll give you that
I could be driving a van across the country collecting
coffee mugs in each state
I could be throwing water balloons
at Paul Ryan from behind a freshly pruned shrub in his lawn
I could be kinder
the neighborhood kids shout dizzy
I could be there too grass-staining my knees as the evening
golds we dice scallions shallots leeks we argue over McDreamy
if he’ll meet Meredith at the bar or stay
with his wife my knife slips a little you say
careful and pause just to watch
the curve of my fingertips it’s not like I’d wring my hands
in an OR and bumble through all
the dumb ways I love you it’s just
the soft skin of your open elbow crease lately
I forget to keep track of myself you found
a recipe for the perfect grilled cheese let’s make this
you said so I said okay let’s after work
we met at the store to buy
ingredients I can’t stop
saying oh man this is going to taste so good you
can’t stop sweetly holding the light
against your neck earlier I stepped out
of the shower drew a line in the mirror for my cheekbone
earlobe to swim in the clearest
river there when you opened the curtain
and reached for a towel I turned your body moved
through the steamed room and I love
your body moving through any room or buttoning your shirt
wrong or leaning toward the stove to be sure
the butter isn’t burning it’s melting
just right oh dear greasy mouth oh my happiest
sidelong glance I’m more
ridiculous than I’ve ever been eating
until my stomach hurts
reddening a patch of skin on your calf with my
knee’s heat I could be biking
past the first split
pea sprouts of summer I could be stitching
the tear in my favorite pair of jeans I was right
about how good this would taste of course
you were right about Derek and his wife
I’ll give you that
Emily Alexander is a writer and an overly enthusiastic foodie. She has had poems published in NAILED Magazine, Blood Orange Review, and Narrative Northeast. A former Idahoan, she now lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Eva Dominelli is a Vancouver artist and freelance Illustrator with a BFA in Illustration from Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Her mysterious gouache and ink illustrations playfully investigate the relationship between the private and the public experience of the everyday. She is currently working on her upcoming artist’s book Between Being & Nothingness.
You can view more of her work at evadominelli.com, on facebook @evadominelliillustration or on instagram @eva.avenue.
You can view more of her work at evadominelli.com, on facebook @evadominelliillustration or on instagram @eva.avenue.
